Not Applicable.
126/9 R, 126/275
Not Applicable.
Not Applicable.
This invention furnishes the user with a self-contained, collapsible, compact cooking unit with cookware that offers three cooking options of oven, stove top, and grill for use in the outdoors or in home emergencies, and fits into a backpack.
In the past, camping cooking options, for the most part, have been limited to an oven, or a grill or stove top cooking, or a combination of the two aforementioned options, but not all three.
While searching the different cooking options available in portable camp units, several compact, collapsible units found were interesting and may be appealing to the occasional camper, but many of the units found in the search collapsed for storage with the use of hinges that are susceptible to breakage or the unit""s framework used metal re-enforcement plates that attached to the corners with bolts or screws that might get lost during use. Although compact, many of these units do not offer all three cooking options, did not provide cookware that fits inside the unit when in a storage configuration, and would not fit inside a backpack for increased portability.
Two portable box units found in the search did offer the user baking options by placing the units frame over a direct heat source such as an electric, gas, or liquid fuel stove but neither of these units offered the user a grilling option or cookware from within the unit itself.
When camping in the outdoors, weather can change drastically and often flames are extinguished under windy conditions or when precipitation exists. This unit""s grill, when inserted between the front and rear panels of the frame not only provides the cooking surface and different levels of cooking, but also creates a sturdy framework. The assembled unit provides a protective housing for the heat source, which reduces the chance of flame loss, flying charcoal embers, or heat related hazards.
Using a variety of metal materials, home made prototypes were constructed in the same size as the claimed invention and a second prototype in a much smaller size. Without deviating from the scope and exact design of the present invention both prototypes being of different sizes and materials met expectations in providing all three cooking options of baking, grilling and stove top cooking, providing sufficient cookware for cooking in the outdoors, and both units easily fit inside a backpack.
This tri-cooking unit is easy to assemble and converts into an oven, stove top or grill using a variety of fuel sources and by placing the grill at the desired cooking height and across the interior width of the frame, and which said grill sits on the top edge of the selected front and rear panels, providing the cooking surface, and regulating the amount of heat that comes in contact with the food.
When used as an oven, the unit can use charcoal for slow even cooking and the variety of front and rear panel heights can be combined to create several different levels of cooking heights reducing the chance of burned or scorched food. A sheet of aluminum foil can be placed on base bottom prior to adding charcoal for easy clean up. Air circulation and venting occurs naturally at panel joints.
The cooking surfaces, which are part of the unit, comprise a grill and optional metal containers with 90 degree upwardly bent edges around perimeter and metal containers which sit directly on top of and are supported by the grill. These metal containers are used as cookware for baking or frying foods that do or do not require containment and store inside the unit""s storage or carrying case with all other members, eliminating the need for additional cooking containers.
The goal when designing this invention was to provide the user with a unit that offers different levels of cooking as well as a variety of cooking options to include baking, frying and grilling in the outdoors or in home emergencies, and uses materials from within itself for assembly, cooking, and storage to create a truly collapsible, compact unit and carrying case that fits into a backpack and is easily transported.